Pick Hope Over Anger
by GivenNotStolen
Summary: What if Snow and Regina actually got along and after Leopold's death decided to go someplace else? Some other land ? How'd that go? Would Regina have been the only one wanting to cast a curse or would Rumple have found someone else to do the job? Would soulmates meet? It's AU so therefore I changed some things. SnowQueen (friendship/family), OutlawQueen, SwanFire, DimplesQueen...


_**AN:** So there it goes. I had this idea earlier today and because a few of you liked it on Twitter I just sat down and wrote the first chapter to give you somewhat of an idea what this will turn into. _  
_For now though I'll leave this at the first chapter until I finish at least one of my other stories. But if you guys like the idea let me know I'll definitley keep working on it then because I'm enjoying it a lot already._  
 _So thanks to the few on Twitter who made me write it down... :) Please let me know if you want more_

 _ **Summary:** What if Snow and Regina actually got along and after Leopold's death decided to go someplace else together? Far far away. Some other land, maybe? How'd that go? And would Regina have been the only one wanting to cast a curse or would Rumple have found someone else to do the job? Would soulmates meet? Read and find out if you like. It's AU so therefore I changed some things up just FYI. Be warned._  
 _SnowQueen (family/friendship), OutlawQueen, DimplesQueen, SwanFire, ..._

* * *

 **Pick Hope Over Anger**

"To answer your question Miss White, yes the topic is part of your test on Monday at least that's what your teacher told me", he said and the whole class groaned just before the bell rang, getting everyone to pack their things as fast as they could and ushering out the classroom for lunch break.  
Everyone but Neal Cassidy who took uncharacteristicly long to grab all his things.

"Everything alright?", his substitute teacher asked then.

"Yes, Mr Locksley", Neal said, "just well, no it isn't to be honest."

Robin knew what was bothering the young man because it was what was bothering him as well. It was a lot to handle for all of them but he'd swear that they'd get through this.

"Don't worry too much, Mr Cassidy", he said then, "we'll talk some more after hours if you'd like but for now just concentrate on your classes."

* * *

Five hours later Robin found himself parking his car in the driveway. He had finally managed to get home. He didn't like the season much as it required a lot more paperwork on his job than the rest of the year but it had to be done.  
He was actually looking forward to the season for a few years now though. Ever since. Well ever since she had walked into his life. Class room more like, going on about how he could possibly give her daughter such a grade on her first test.  
They had argued about that for some time and eventually somehow he had stunned her by asking her to go on a date with him and to his utter surprise she'd accepted the offer.  
That had been about three years ago. Not exactly this day but it was certainly as freezingly cold as it had been then.

A few moments later he'd eventually managed to make it into the house. Or mansion as the kids liked to call it.

"Regina?", he called.

"Kitchen", he got as a reply so he took off his shoes and put them away before walking into the room his wife said she was in.  
She was standing in front of the fridge not paying Robin any attention though so he walked up to her and put his hands on her hips before kissing her neck.

"Urgh", she jumped, "you're cold."

Robin chuckled, "well as you may have noticed it's freezing outside. How's everyone?"

"I did spellings with Roland earlier which went really well this week so far, Snow headed over to  
Belle's about half an hour ago, she wanted to be back before dinner though. Said they had to work on some project for Dr. Hopper's class. Oh and Neal came over about twenty minutes ago. He's with Emma in her and Snow's room."

"And you think that's wise", Robin questioned, "to have them alone in a room together?"

"Well the girl is already pregnant...", Regina said turning around in Robin's arms not finishing her sentence and just leaving it unfinished.

"Right", Robin said kissing her quickly wondering how his life had gotten to this point.  
It had changed quite drastically in the last 4 years.

"Dad!", they heard Roland shouting as he obviously came running down the stairs.

"Hey monkey", Robin said before taking a step back from Regina who had finally closed the fridge and turning towards a running Roland.

"Dad?", Roland said crushing into his leg, "can I have ice cream?"

"Can you try not to run down the stairs next time, buddy? And isn't it a bit cold for ice cream?", Robin asked.

"Nope", Roland just said.

"Well", Robin said, "you can have some after dinner if you eat all your veggies."

Regina chuckled seeing the face Roland made before he said, "alright."

"Don't have him have too much sugar before bed", Regina said after Roland had left the room again.

Robin sighed pouting, "have you seen that face of his? It's hard to say no to that look."

"Take a look in the mirror", Regina told him, "believe me, I do know that face quite well 'Mister I'm-too-busy-too-iron-my-shirts'."

"Well I am rather busy and you do like to iron my shirts", Robin said.

Regina just rolled her eyes, "sure." In reality he was just incapable of doing it properly and she didn't want to spent a fortune on dry cleaners every week.

"I promised Neal earlier that I'd talk to him", Robin said.

"uhuh", Regina said placing some peppers on a chopping board and taking a knife to slice them, "dinner should be ready in about half an hour."

Robin stepped forward then and placed a kiss on her neck before leaving the kitchen and walking up to the girls' room.

He knocked on the door before opening it anyway. He was a little surprised to find Neal and Emma sitting at her desk obviously studying.

"I can come back later if you want", he just said almost walking back out of the room.

"No wait, Mr. Locksley, stay", Neal said, "please."

Robin closed the door behind him then, "how often did I tell you to call me Robin when we're not at school? So what was troubling you earlier?"

"Everything", Neal said whilst Emma was staring at her nails, "I'm not sure I can handle studying and raising a kid and Emma is scared that you and Regina might kick her out because you don't want her anymore."

Robin turned to Emma then, crouching down in front of the chair the girl was sitting on, "Emma, don't do that to yourself. Yes, the situation is messy but we will all work on it together and get you through it. Together"  
He knew where she was coming from. Before Regina and him had adopted her about 2 years ago she had been moved from one foster home to the next one. Of course she was afraid.

"Thank you", Emma said now almost crying but she still managed to smile at Robin.

"How's the studying going?", Robin asked her then.

"Good", Emma said.

"If you need help let me know", he said turning around then, "do you want to stay for dinner, Neal?"

"Only if it's not a problem", Neal said, "I could leave if you'd rather want me to."

"No one wants you to leave, Neal. Stay for dinner", Robin said.

"Ok", Neal nodded.

Robin decided to walk back downstairs where he found Roland in front of the TV watching something about a teenager with magical abilities on Disney Channel. Robin shook his head before heading back into the kitchen.

"Smells delicious", Robin said walking towards his wife as she was handling pots and pans.

"Yeah dinner should be ready in a minute or two", Regina said.

"Oh the food smells delicious too, yep", Robin said.

Regina just rolled her eyes but couldn't hide a smile, "could you set the table?"

"Neal's staying for dinner. Do you want me to call Snow?", Robin asked taking out plates from the cupboard.

"No it's fine, I just 'messaged' her", Regina said.

"Oh oh, yeah", Robin said still after all these years not being used to them having magical abilities.

Not a second later he heard the key in the front door and Snow walked into the kitchen soon after, "hey Rob", she said, "ma", before plopping down on 'her' chair.

"What about your shoes and coat?", Regina asked carrying a huge pot of spaghetti over to the table placing it in the middle.

Snow just waved her hand and her shoes were replaced by her house shoes and her coat had vanished into the wardrobe.

Regina rolled her eyes at Snow's laziness. Two teenagers were really enough for her. She just hoped Roland would stay as little as he was now for a while longer. Though probably not as his 8th birthday was rolling along.  
Nevertheless she was smiling as Emma and Neal came down to the kitchen as well and everyone took their seats.  
Of course they had their ups and downs. Two teenagers, one of which was pregnant, couldn't be referred to as 'ideal'. But it was her perfect little dysfunctional family. She was married to the man she loved more than her own life and they were raising three kids together. None of them biologically being hers but that didn't matter to her. And who knew maybe one day...

For now though they would have five more stressful months with a pregnant Emma ahead of them. But really that would only be the start, right?  
Nevertheless Regina was happy at this moment. Looking around at everyone chatting and eating, she couldn't have asked for more.

* * *

 _Roughly about 4 years prior._

 _It had almost been a week now since Leopold's death. Well she had killed him. And she's felt relieved about it. Finally not having him telling her what to do anymore._  
 _But freedom? This wasn't it either. People were gossiping not only mourning their King but making up stories about how he had died so suddenly._

 _There were things to organise for her now and she hadn't imagined it being that much. But it was. And it was for her to decide. All on her own. Wasn't that what she had wanted all along?_  
 _Yes it was but she wasn't so sure about it anymore._

 _Cora would be proud of her now being Queen. But she had send that woman of to God-knows-where, ages ago. Not even the genie, well mirror now could tell her more about that._  
 _Which brought her to that blasted genie. Now that he 'lived' in her mirror he wasn't letting her alone either. It had annoyed her to the point that two days ago she had ordered all mirrors to be placed in a room near the dungeons. Reasoning that with she couldn't look at her self anymore now that the King was dead. No one asked further questions and it wasn't fully a made up story. Because every time she looked into a mirror these days she saw the genie who had killed her dear husband (on her account)._

 _And then there was Snow. Snow who by now had lost both her parents. She couldn't deny that sometimes she was still angry at the girl for telling her mother about Daniel. But she also couldn't deny that the girl had found a way into her heart or that killing Daniel had actually coming down to it only ever being Cora's fault._  
 _Snow who was here right now, lying in Regina's bed because she had trouble sleeping ever since her father died._

 _"What do we do now?", Snow asked then pulling Regina out of her thoughts._

 _She sighed. All she ever wanted was to be free. To have a simple kind of life with a family of her own. A normal life._

 _"What do you want to do?", Snow asked her this time. Snow had grown up in recent years. She saw Regina as someone to look up to._

 _Regina laughed then a little, "What I want? I just want to be free, to be honest. But that's not how life works. I'd want to just run away and never look back and live a normal life."_

 _"Why wouldn't that work?", Snow asked her then with the innocence of a young teenager in her voice._

 _"Well there are rules, Snow. We can't just run away to a land without magic or someplace even though I wish we could."_

 _"But you'd want to?", Snow asked lying next to her stepmother on the bed,_

 _"More than anything", Regina said._

 _"You're the Queen. I'm your Princess, we can do anything we want", Snow said smiling before closing her eyes and easily falling asleep for the first night in a week._

 _Regina on the other hand sat on her bed next to the sleeping girl for a few more hours._

 _At one point she had picked up her mother's book about magic looking for the impossible._

 _Snow was just a kid with a mindset of anything being possible. It was silly, really._  
 _But she did have a point. Regina was the Queen and she also knew a little about magic. Maybe there was a way to leave everything behind and start over._  
 _Maybe._

 _It was almost morning when Regina finally closed her eyes and let sleep take over._  
 _She had read about portals, other lands and magic beans and she thought that it seemed like the idea of going away wasn't so far fetched after all._  
 _She'd have to go trough some of her things the next day and see how far she'd be able to get and then if everything worked out talk to Snow._  
 _She didn't want Rumplestiltskin to know. Or anyone. She just wanted to get away from here._  
 _Far far away._


End file.
